Question

I own a 13-year-old, 1,000-lb (450-kg) Missouri Fox Trotter gelding. Right now, he’s too heavy, with a body condition score of 7 on the 1-9 scale we use. He’s stalled for much of the day, though is allowed into a drylot for a few hours daily. He is fed teff hay when it’s available, but coastal Bermudagrass and timothy at other times. He’s also fed 1 lb (0.5 kg) of a low-starch, low-sugar ration balancer, 2.5 oz of ground flax, and 2 lb (0.9 kg) of timothy pellets daily. He has access to a salt block. He is battling laminitis, so I am focused on managing the current episode and preventing a relapse.

Answer

While you provided some details about your gelding’s diet, you did not mention specifically how much hay is being offered and consumed. Is the hay fed on a weight basis, or does he have free-choice access? What are the proportions of the Bermudagrass and timothy hay? Because this laminitis episode was likely due to excessive weight and metabolic issues related to insulin, is it possible to have the hay analyzed for nutritional content, or do you already have this information? Did he have more access to pasture before the laminitis episode?

I estimated the gelding’s current diet by using the following diet elements: “grass hay” consumed at a reasonable level (1.6% of body weight), 2 lb (0.9 kg) of timothy pellets, and 1 lb (0.5 kg) of ration balancer. This diet supplies appropriate calories for maintaining weight based on a 1,000-lb (450-kg) ideal body weight and is nutritionally balanced because of the balancer pellet. If you are feeding more than 16 lb (7.3 kg) of hay, then you can reduce the amount fed to hit the 1.6% of body weight mentioned above. If, however, you are already restricting how much hay he is fed, then you should modify the caloric content of his forage either by sourcing alternative hay (if possible) or by soaking the current hay to help reduce calories and sugar content.

I recommended certain research-proven supplements from Kentucky Equine Research for metabolic horses, primarily Nano-E and EO-3. These products provide natural-source vitamin E (Nano-E) and specific long-chain omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA (EO-3) that help reduce oxidative damage and inflammation in the body. This combination of products benefits horses recovering from stress and with limited access to high-quality pasture. EO-3 should replace flax as the source of omega-3 fatty acids in the diet and will help reduce calories as only 1 oz of EO-3 is needed to deliver a significant amount of DHA and EPA. Providing a marine-derived direct source of DHA and EPA, such as EO-3, is key to ensuring the horse receives the health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids.

Click here to learn more about KER Targeted Nutrition for horses with laminitis.